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Friday, July 2, 2010

Stars and Stripes: A Flag Craft

Stars and Stripes by Salina Yoon is a lovely little board book that celebrates the American flag. It's rhyming text explains a few different reasons why we fly the American flag such as honoring our heroes, Flag Day, and the Fourth of July. Stars and Stripes ends with a salute to the diversity of our country. It says, "We sing our anthem with great pride for all of our people from far and wide!" That illustration shows children on a baseball field, hands on hearts, singing. I'm thankful for this book in our family collection as it is appropriate for both my 1 1/2 year old and my 3 1/2 year old.

I know there are lots of patriotic crafts out there to celebrate Independence Day, but I wanted to begin with the basics: our flag! This is a great time to talk about what the stars and stripes mean. Here, here, and here are some sites to get you started!

Gather Your Materials:

Flag

7 strips of red paper (make sure when positioned on the paper, white stripes from the background will show)

blue rectangle, cut to size

foil star stickers (or white paint could be used to make thumb prints as a substitute)

glue

white paper, cut 1-2 inches smaller than

Background

red paint

blue paint

paint brush

white paper

Additional stickers optional

Background Mat:

If you want a colorful background mat, put dots of paint around the outside of your piece of paper. Try alternating the red and blue. Four dots of each color covered our paper! If you have an older child, try to suggest not mixing the colors to make purple, but letting the red and blue stand boldly on the white background. Set aside to dry.

Flag:

Begin by looking at a flag, or the flags in Stars and Stripes. Begin at the bottom, and prepare a red strip with glue. Continue adding stripes until about halfway up the flag. Then I would suggest going to the top and add stripes from the top going down the flag.

When the stripes have been completed, add up to fifty foil star stickers to the blue rectangle. (We used less than twenty-five stars.) Glue blue rectangle in the upper left corner of the flag!

Once the mat has dried, use decorative stickers (or glue) to attach flag on the mat. Hang in a prominent place and watch your child beam with pride!

(Thanks to Annette for preparing this post in time for Independence Day celebrations! And a Happy 4th to all the Americans...)